Insight and aggressive Behavior in acute Schizophrenic Patients

Abstract

Introduction

aggressive behavior in wards is associated to poor treatment compliance and low clinical insight. Most studies focused on the clinical and cognitive dimensions of insight, while the relationship between metacognitive dimension and aggressive behaviors was not investigated. Our aim was to understand what relationship occurs between dimensions of insight (metacognitive, cognitive, clinical), and specific aggressive behaviors in acute patients.

Methods

we recruited 75 acute schizophrenic patients using:aQ; MO aS; IS; P aNSS; BCIS.

Results

a positive correlation between the IS score and the hostility, angry and physical aggression sub-scores of theaQ was highlighted, while no correlation between the score of IS and MO aS total score was found. No correlation between the score of the P aNSS G12 item and theaQ scores and MO aS was found, and no correlation between BCIS scores, MO aS andaQ scores was found.

Conclusions

in our patients, a higher level of metacognitive insight, but not clinical nor cognitive insight, was associated to higher levels of hostility. we suggest that a higher ability to monitor and appraise one's own altered processes of thought and related discomfort, feeling of destabilization and loss of control, could contribute to enhance resentment and suspiciousness. Findings help develop specific therapeutic strategies to enhance metacognitive and self-monitoring abilities, helping patient's understanding of the illness, improving compliance with treatment, and patient's quality of life. Our results support the multidimensional nature of insight in schizophrenia, confirming that clinical, cognitive and metacognitive dimensions are independent though related facets of the phenomenon of insight in schizophrenia.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.